"From the sanction of the Kremlin"

“Berlin killer” Vadim Krasikov, who, under the fictional name of Vadim Sokolov , shot Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, a native of Georgia in Berlin , trained in Europe on the basis of the FSB Special Forces, repeatedly visited the anti -terrorist department of the FSB on Vernadsky Avenue and called up several times with one of the current and several times and several times Former Employees of Vimpel. Among his most frequent contacts was the head of the Vimpel veterans Eduard Bender, who, as Radio Liberty previously found out, is Maxim Yakubz, a Russian hacker, for which the United States promises a reward of $ 5 million. All this is said in a new joint investigation by Bellingcat , the German magazine Der Spiegel and the Russian publication The Insider .

Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, who during the Second Chechen war commanded one of the divisions of the separatists who fought against the Russian troops, was killed in the capital of Germany on August 30, 2019. The suspect in this crime was detained by the German police in hot pursuit: it turned out that he came to the EU according to documents in the name of Russian Vadim Sokolov. Previous investigations of Bellingcat and their partners made it possible to establish the real name of Sokolov - Vadim Krasikov, as well as with a high degree of probability to assume his connection with the Russian special services. Further study of the real personality of Krasikov revealed his involvement in other custom killings.

Police at the site of the murder of Zelimkhan Khangoshvili

Favorite number

The authors of the investigation Bellingcat , Der Spiegel and The Insider managed to find the phone number that Vadim Krasikov used in Russia before the murder in Berlin, despite the fact that not a single Russian mobile communications company never released a SIM cart in his name or his wife. Nevertheless, one telephone number to the investigators was still known: this is the number left in the traffic police when registering a car of Krasikov’s wife. It turned out that he was registered with a company in which they know nothing about the personality of Krasikov. Having gained access to the calls from this number, the investigators set the number that they called from it most often. This, as it turned out later, turned out to be the real mobile number of Vadim Krasikov.

According to the calls from this number, as well as according to the data on the base stations where it was registered, the investigators found that the connection of the “Berlin killer” with the FSB was constant and set a goal to prepare for the operation of Khangoshvili's liquidation. Bellingcat and their partners also managed to get information about the new SIM card, which Krasikov used for a trip to Europe-thanks to this, the points that he visited in Paris and Warsaw became known before going to the German capital.

It becomes clear from the investigation that the planning of the operation to liquidate Khangoshvili began no later than March 2019, and most often Krasikov called Eduard Bendersky. From February to August, Krasikov talked with Bender at least 20 times, including July 3, when he returned from Bryansk, where he received a fake passport addressed to Vadim Sokolov. The last conversation took place on August 13, three days before Killer left for Paris, from where he went to Warsaw, and then to Berlin.

Bellingcat believes that Bendersky played in the Berlin case as a representative of the current head of the FSB special purpose center, Colonel General Alexander Tikhonov . In 2003, Tikhonov secretly received the title “Hero of Russia” for the operation to neutralize terrorists in the theater center on Dubrovka, as a result of which, according to the renewing gas, 130 hostages died. Tikhonov led Tikhonov and the operation to free the school terrorists in Beslan in 2004, which also led to a large number of victims among the hostages.

Three weeks before his trip to Berlin Krasikov, according to BellingCat , he often began to call up with three new, less high -ranking Vympel employees, who had not previously been among his contacts. In the investigation, the assumption is made that they helped him at the final stage of preparing the murder of Zelimkhan Khangoshvili.

Eduard Bender

Selected places

With the help of all the same calls, the authors of the new investigation managed to establish several points, in the area of which Krasikov’s phone was most often recorded on the network. Among them was the special purpose center of the FSB (military unit 35690) in Balashikha, Moscow Region, the “native” for the Alpha and Vympel Directorate, as well as the FSB special forces training base in the village of Averkievo, located nearby. Here Krasikov, among other things, spent several days before leaving for Berlin.

Another important point, next to which Vadim Krasikov’s phone was most often registered, was the FSB anti -terrorist center on Vernadsky Avenue .

Read more about the new investigation Bellingcat , Der Spiegel and The Insider in an interview with Radio Liberty was said by one of its authors, Bellingcat analyst Christ Grozev:

"We looked at almost all the movements of Krasikov in Moscow and his calls in Russia since the beginning of February 2019. around the beginning of March, he began to communicate tightly with about 12 people associated with the organization of former Vympel special forces. At least one of them was an operating employee of this department. About a month before the operation in Berlin, this communication became much more intense: he had several calls per day, including calls, including calls. Eduard Bendersky, we moved to the analysis of his movements. Balashikha, the other is the training ground of this center in the village of Averkievo.

Special Purpose Center FSB in Balashikha

Why was the veteran of the special services, and not the current high -ranking employee, was entrusted to the "oversee" Krasikov? Christ Grozev believes that this was done to the next to deny the FSB involvement in the incident:

"Our analysis shows that Bender is unlikely to act on his own behalf. All his activities were aimed at the interests of the FSB special forces and General Tikhonov, whom he once served. I think that the role of Bendersky was to create DeniaBility, that is, the opportunity for the FSB to say that the murder of Khangoshvili organized non-special services, but some private individuals. We think that even though the Bender and Bender and Bender and He played a key role in the preparation of Krasikov for the operation, he represented not his private interests, but the interests of the FSB. "

The close friendship of Eduard Bender and Alexander Tikhonov has been known since 2003, when journalist Yuri Shchekochikhin published letters of alpha special forces in Novaya Gazeta dissatisfied with the change of superiors. From these letters it follows that Bendersky, who created its network of security enterprises, actually under the “roof” of the FSB special forces, was one of the main sponsors of the special forces center and even soared in the bathhouse along with Tikhonov in the territory in Balashikha, which is open to visiting special services only. Shchekochikhin died as a result of poisoning by an unknown substance shortly before the publication of the last three letters from the Alpha. His death was investigated as a murder, but was stopped "for the lack of a crime."

Christ Grozev is sure that the murder of Khangoshvili was authorized at least at the level of the FSB leadership, but most likely, the sanction was given to him in the Kremlin:

"After this investigation, we can completely exclude such versions of Khangoshvili's death as criminal disassembly or revenge on the part of Ramzan Kadyrov, because the relationship between Kadyrov and the Center for Special Operations of the FSB competitive and not very friendly. The option is also completely excluded that this is personal revenge of former special forces, because not a single Russian structure could even organize access to such closed ties. The training grounds in Balashikha or the landfill in Averkievo. At least the top of the FSB, and most likely from the sanction of the Kremlin. "

In December 2019, German Chancellor Angela Merkel asked Russia to provide information that could concern the murder of Zelimkhan Khangoshvili. The Federal Prosecutor's Office of Germany is investigating the case: this indicates that German investigators can suspect the organization of the murder of the special services of another country. The Russian authorities and the FSB deny their involvement in the crime. As Vladimir Putin said at a press conference after the Summit of the Norman Four leaders in Paris called Khangoshvili "a fighter, a tough, bloody person", only one of the shares of which allegedly led to the death of 98 people. At the same time, the President of Russia did not specify what kind of action it was in question. At the same time, Putin called the murder by a criminal disassembly: “I don’t know what happened to him. This is a gangster environment, and anything can happen there,” he said, noting that Russia repeatedly asked Germany to issue a “bandit and killer” of Khangoshvili, but this request was not satisfied with the German authorities. Germany subsequently rejected the words of the Russian leader, saying that Moscow did not turn to Berlin with such a request through official channels.